Chiropractic and the Opioid Epidemic
What Are Opioids
Doctors prescribe opioids (such as methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone) to treat moderate-to-severe pain often following injury or surgery. Prescriptions for non-standard uses such as back pain and osteoarthritis have increased dramatically in recent years. Sales of prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999. Nearly a quarter billion opioid prescriptions were written in 2013.
How We Got Here
From drugabuse.gov: “In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates. This subsequently led to widespread diversion and misuse of these medications before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive. Opioid overdose rates began to increase. In 2015, more than 33,000 Americans died as a result of an opioid overdose, including prescription opioids, heroin, and illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid.”
Drug-Free Alternative to Pain
The Food and Drug Administration has proposed changes to the way it educates healthcare providers on treating pain, including the use of chiropractic care and other non-drug solutions. Just yesterday, President Trump signed legislation reaffirming the FDA’s changes. The American College of Physicians announced earlier this year that it would recommend non-surgical approaches such as chiropractic as the first option to treat lower back pain.
Chiropractic treatment takes a broader approach to healthcare by rectifying the body’s structural problems which restores healthy, natural flow to allow the body to heal itself naturally, thus eliminating the need for hard-core opioid treatments.
Over the last 20 years, we have helped thousands of patients in our office with pain in a drug-free, surgery-free manner. On the first visit, we do a thorough examination, x-rays (if needed), a review of our findings, and a spinal adjustment. If you’re in pain, don’t wait to take action. Call us today.
Our oldest son, Will, recently graduated from Air Force Basic Training at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, TX. We were able to make the drive down there to see him graduate. It was a very special weekend for our family. We were able to watch him march with his flight to receive his coin, tour his dorm, watch him march in parade, say his oath, tour the base, and take him off base to see San Antonio. On Sunday, we attended church with him on base. The pastor talked about “Grief” that Sunday. He listed all sorts of losses that cause grief. One of the losses that I particularly remember was the loss of health. Health is one of those things many people take for granted. Some don’t even think about health until they have a problem with it. Loss of health is very devastating – we’ve seen this in our office over the years: fathers and mothers unable to provide for their family because of debilitating pain, children unable to attend school regularly, retirees unable to enjoy retirement. The pastor, himself, faced a health problem that threatened to end his military career. It was a good reminder to take care of ourselves. We are each ultimately responsible for our own health. The body is constantly regenerating cells – remarkably every few years we have a completely new body. The things we do, eat, read, and consume today are the things our bodies use to make the new cells tomorrow.